


More Than Just a Kiss: an Audrey/Cooper tale

by nimoy



Category: Twin Peaks
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 14:12:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15438822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nimoy/pseuds/nimoy
Summary: When Audrey's overture to Agent Cooper is rebuffed, she fears that "no" is going to be the final word. But after she is rescued from One Eyed Jack's things take a turn in her favor...





	More Than Just a Kiss: an Audrey/Cooper tale

**Author's Note:**

> I really enjoyed trying to keep as much of this story canonical while weaving in the sexy bits. Readers should be aware that this story contains explicit consensual sex and references to non-consensual sex, but only consensual sex takes place.

Special Agent Dale Cooper was just returning to the Great Northern after a foray into the woods. He stood before the doors of the elevator, frowning slightly at the floor, his hands clasped behind his back. There was a gentle crease of concentration between his dark eyebrows as he pondered the facts of the day. The visit to Margaret’s cabin had brought to light more questions than it had provided answers. Still, Agent Cooper felt it was a step in the right direction. 

The doors, decorated with bold art particular to the natives of the Pacific Northwest, slid silently open for him, and he stepped aboard. As he rode the elevator to his floor, he carefully cataloged the day’s experiences, cross-referencing newly acquired information with prior data. As he sifted through his mental filing cabinet, he tried to find a solution amongst the eclectic pieces. A pattern, he assured himself, would reveal itself to him upon further scrutiny and meditation. He just had to keep at it.

Walking slowly down the hallway on his floor, lost in thought, it dawned upon him that the air was silent. The vile Norwegians, with their unending unendurable singing, their carousing, and general negligence on the subject of common courtesy had been tormenting him for a total of three nights. But now, at this moment, there was a delightful silence. This was wonderful, and he imagined an expanse of undisturbed slumber spreading out before him like a ripple across the pool, with the promise, like a kiss, of feeling rested.

And at that very moment the voices picked up again in song.

Slowing at return of the unwanted yet all too familiar sounds, Agent Cooper raised out his arms in a gesture of helplessness and frustration. Momentarily his head tipped back with a feeling of defeat, and a grimace passed across his face. Opening his eyes he gave his hands a shake of disgust before continuing on this his room. 

But when he came in sight of his room, all frustration vanished. 

The door to his room, which he had meticulously locked as part of his morning ritual, was standing slightly ajar. Someone had been, or still was, in his room.  
Reflexively he backed away from the door, drawing his firearm. The singing Norwegians continued their ribaldry, and Agent Cooper hesitated only momentarily before silently pushing the door inwards and aiming his gun.

He was compiling a roster of possible visitors. Flicking rapidly through his cognitive filing system, he picked out the names of those who might have motive to interfere with either him or his investigation. Leo Johnson possibly, Jaque Reano also. Or perhaps is was someone yet unknown, the third man, Laura Palmer’s true killer.

But as he moved into the room, his senses on high alert, he picked up something unexpected. The scent... of perfume. It was a subtle mixture of floral and musk, and a quality he couldn’t quite put his finger on, perhaps something unique to the woman’s skin. There was something oddly familiar, and powerfully enticing, about the smell.

Puzzled but unperturbed he took aim in the imperfect darkness at the figure sitting on his bed. Holding the muzzle of his gun level and steady with both hands, he spoke.

“Reach over and turn on the light.”

Without a word the figure complied, reaching out to switch on the bedside lamp.

Audrey Horne came into brilliant focus as Agent Cooper’s eyes adapted to the light. She was sitting in the bed, between the covers, her hair down. Her shoulders were bare, with a sheet pulled up to cover her chest.

Stunned, Agent Cooper released his aim, allowing his elbows to fall and the barrel of the gun to point at the ceiling. His mouth opened in surprise, unsure what to say. Briefly he wondered if she was really, fully unclothed. And as he stood there, he became aware of several discomforting physiological facts. First, saliva had begun immediately to pool in his mouth in an anticipatory fashion, and there was an fiery expanding feeling in his chest. Further, he noted that his pulse had quickened, and deepened, in an old familiar way. He had that heady, slightly dizzy sensation which indicated a readiness of his body for a fight... or something else. 

This, thought Dale dryly, was not good.

Seeing the expression on Agent Cooper’s face, Audrey felt her heart drop. He didn’t look happy to see her. He usually smiled when he looked at her, that gentle stretch of his mouth, like he had a secret, something he was thinking but unwilling to say. That look put butterflies in stomach. It was that secret something in his smile that had made her so sure he wanted her.

She had watched that look slowly spread across his face the first morning she met him. He had been sitting in the dining room, ordering breakfast and sipping a black cup of coffee. She hadn’t been able to take her eyes off of him as she approached, and he had held her gaze in that level knowing way she had come to love. It made her feel light, and vaguely faint, as if gravity no longer anchored her securely to the floor.

But the look on his face was different tonight.

“Don’t make me leave. Please, don’t make me leave,” she said, desperately grasping with hopeful fingers at the idea that his face would soften, that the smile would come back.

Dale’s nostrils flared in response to her question, and his eyes were so fully dilated that he felt he was having trouble focusing them. Taking a deep if somewhat unsteady breath he looked away, and turning, he set his gun down on the hotel room desk. With his back to her and his palms planted firmly on its surface, studying the wallpaper, he asked, “Audrey, why are you here?”

Why was she there? She blushed thinking about the answer, feeling her deflated hopes withering further. Wasn’t it obvious? This wasn’t going to plan at all, and that fact upset her nearly as much as it stung her with disappointment.

He was supposed to have been surprised, but cautiously pleased.

“Audrey?” he would say, his voice a blend of confusion and hope.

“Hello Agent Cooper,” she would say, “I’ve been waiting for you.”

His eyebrows would rise then, before his face settled into that familiar secretive smile. “Audrey, you’re a beautiful girl, but we hardly know each other.”

“I know you well enough,” she would say. “I know you’re smart, and sweet, and everything I ever wanted, but never found before.” She would get out of the bed then, revealing her body, offering it to him, as she approached. 

“Audrey...” he would say, almost breathing it, transfixed by her approach.

“Agent Cooper.... Dale,” she would say, “I want you.” She would cast her eyes down demurely then, for a moment unable to meet his gaze, and then say softly, “I want you to be my first.” Then she would look up with a determined set in her jaw, and gauge his response.

“Are you sure?” he would say, softly, wanting to be a gentleman, but wanting to take her just as badly.

“Kiss me,” was all she would say in response.

He would stand there, uncertain still and she would repeat the request, more forcefully, with greater urgency. “Kiss me.”

At that moment the tables would turn, and he would close the distance between them with deliberate slowness, pulling the full length of her body against him, her naked skin against his neatly pressed suit. Then wrapping his fingers into her hair he would look into her eyes, silently seeking her consent, and then when her lips parted in anticipation, he would kiss her. It would be a long gentle kiss, one that built heat and momentum slowly, until he could no longer make himself kiss her slowly. Then he would kiss her hard, push her gently back onto the bed and rapidly undress. After that he would be on top of her, kissing her, holding her down, moving against her-

He repeated his question, his back still to her. “Why are you here?”

Jarred from her reverie, and feeling disappointment afresh, Audrey tried to answer. “I’m here because I wanted...” she trailed off, afraid to say it, “I wanted you to...” Finally she gave up and lapsed into silence, unable to say out loud what she so desperately wanted: I wanted you to make love to me.

He knew. He had already known, of course, he just wanted to be sure. Wanted to ensure this was not some sort of wacky misunderstanding with a perfectly reasonable explanation that he overlooked before jumping to the obvious conclusion. And yet, at the back of his mind Dale knew what he had really been asking for, what he really wanted to hear her say: that she wanted him. This was something he told himself he was not supposed to ask for. Not supposed to want to hear.

Moving, slowly, Dale came to sit on the corner of the bed opposite from Audrey, with his back to her. She shifted slightly in the bed, the movement of the covers sent a waft of her smell over him. It made everything worse. He couldn’t stop the thoughts it provoked, and his muscles tensed as he braced against them. 

He wanted to know what her mouth, so red and expressive, would feel like, pressed against his. What her skin would taste like, and what sort of sounds she would make when he pushed inside of her. His palms itched to feel the curve of her breasts, to cup them and to roll her nipples between his fingertips, or feel their taut muscularity with his tongue. Most of all, he wanted to know what her face would look like, how it would appear, contorted with the ecstasy of climax as he brought her to her full, and then again, and then again...

He could feel his will wavering and his body slipping into a higher gear, preparing itself. Squeezing his eyes shut he forced his breathing to even out, he drew with all his force upon his practice of yogic meditation to calm himself. “Audrey, you are a high school girl. I am an agent of the FBI.”

Audrey felt the hot sting of tears in her eyes. She tried to suppress it. She didn’t want him to see her like this, crying like a baby. It was so unfair. “So do you want me to leave or what?” she asked, trying to put a tough edge into her voice, but even to her own ears she sounded shrill, disappointed.

Dale clung, tenuously but with determination, to his meditation, feeling himself teetering at the brink. Her tears were a double-edged sword. On one hand, they helped bring him back into focus. He had to remember that no matter how desirable she was, in many ways she was still just a girl, and very vulnerable. But on the other villainously seductive hand, they made him want to pull her into his arms and kiss her, cast aside all restraint and make certain, emphatically, in every way possible and to the greatest extent of his abilities, that she had no reason for tears. It made him want to give her everything she came here seeking, and quite a few things more.

“What I want and what I need are two different things, Audrey,” he said, still not looking at her, speaking more to himself than to her. He worried that he had already said too much. He did want her, wanted to do things with her she was indubitably not ready for, and it would not be fair. Under no circumstances could he allow himself to take advantage of her.

Audrey’s eyes lit up and she took a quick surprised breath of air, feeling a knot form in her stomach. The good kind, the excited kind, like on the first drop of a roller coaster. He didn’t want her to leave. She realized now that look on his face had signified struggle, not consternation. But why was he holding back?

Taking another breath, Dale forced himself to continue, “When a man joins the bureau he takes an oath to uphold certain values. Values that he’s sworn to live by.” He turned to look at her as he spoke. She was so lovely that he had to look away again. “This is wrong Audrey,” he said, shaking his head, “We both know it.”

Looking at her had disordered his thoughts to an alarming degree. He kept repeating to himself that it was wrong, but the parade of thoughts and images continued unabated. Audrey, on her back with her legs wrapped around him, calling his name, raking him with her fingernails as she begged him for release, for more. Her fingers destroying his immaculately combed hair, as she greedily pulled his face down to kiss her. The sounds, oh the sounds she would make, as he skillfully played her like a beautiful instrument, crafted by a deity with a great appreciation for both the arts of love and music.

This is wrong. He bit down on his tongue to distract himself.

“But don’t you like me?” Audrey asked.

Her question spurred him, causing him to look back at her dangerously. “I like you very much. You’re beautiful, intelligent... desirable.” He put a distinct emphasis on each word as be said it, then he hesitated, lost in her face, taking in the way her expression changed as the things he said hit home. He felt his throat tighten. “You’re everything a man wants in his life.” As he said this, he knew he meant it, felt it, but could not allow it for himself. He forced himself onwards. “But what you need right now, more than anything else, is a friend. Someone who will listen.”

Saying this aloud finally made Agent Cooper feel better, safer. He felt the tide of lust ebbing, and he was back on solid ground, anchored there by the tender feelings his speech had evoked. It was important that he put her well-being first, before whatever desires he might have. Desires he could never allow himself to bring to fruition.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief which he proffered to her. She took it and delicately wiped her face with it. “Friends, huh,” she said, looking up at him.  
Agent Cooper nodded, and it brought a smile to Audrey’s face. He smiled back. Not quite the secret smile, but it warmed her nonetheless. 

While she was disappointed, and her pride wounded, she had learned something very valuable tonight: Agent Cooper was conflicted. And if he was conflicted, that meant there was a part of him that was on her side. A part of him that wanted her just as much as she wanted him. If she could find a way to strengthen that part, to galvanize it to action, then she would get everything she wanted. It made her happy to have him as a friend, it gave her a satisfied feeling of acceptance, but she wasn’t going to let it go at that.

“Now I’m going to go down and get us two malts and some fries downstairs. Then I want you to tell me all your troubles,” said Agent Cooper, feeling a sensation of relief spread over him. He was in the clear.

“That could take all night,” rejoined Audrey, surprised.

“The night is young.” Just like you. He thought wistfully about getting a good night’s rest, but the Norwegians would ruin it anyway, and he was concerned for his young friend’s frame of mind. Rejection was never an easy pill to swallow. Standing up with an air of finality he said, “Now I’m going to get the food ... and you’re going to get dressed.” This was, of course, for the best.

“I can’t tell you all my secrets,” Audrey said, thinking of one in particular.

“Secrets are dangerous things, Audrey,” he said, placing his hands on the foot board of the bed, looking her square in the eye.

Yes, they are, she thought. “Do you have any?”

There was no hesitation when he gave his one word answer: “No.” Nothing that should concern you.

Liar, she thought, noting the ease with which he did it. It made her admire him more. 

“Laura had a lot of secrets,” she said.

“Finding those out is my job,” he said, and then with an air of determination, left the room.

Cooper 1, Audrey 0, she thought with a sigh as she slid from between the sheets and started to dress. But not for long. She smiled to herself, and let out a sigh. Next time she’d make sure he didn’t know what hit him.

***

Audrey Horne was lying in bed, recovering from a drug overdose. She had been in and out of consciousness for several hours. Sheriff Harry Truman had gone home for the night, but Agent Dale Cooper and Doc Hayward remained in the Bookhouse, watching over her.

It pained Dale to see her like this, so pale, with dark rings under her eyes and her cheeks sunken. He stood there, holding his elbows, staring at her and willing her to health. Doc Hayward was sitting on the edge of the bed, removing a needle from her arm that he had used for a hydrating drip.

“She’s coming around,” the doctor said, cleaning and bandaging the puncture. "We should give her something to eat.”

“Right on it, Doc,” Dale said, moving quickly to the kitchen. He opened a can of soup and put it on the stove in a saucepan he found in one if the cabinets. As it warmed he stirred it to keep it from burning. He did these things mechanically, lost in thought.

He was thinking about Audrey.

When he first found her, found her alive, tied to a bed in a room in One Eyed Jack’s, it was as if a hand had reached through his rib cage and then grabbed and strangled his heart. He had been flooded with such relief he nearly kissed her. She had been praying for him to come and save her, and the thought made him ache. How much sooner could he have saved her if he had only found the note sooner?

Testing the temperature and deeming it ready, he located a bowl and a spoon.

Returning to the bedside with bowl in hand, he found that the doctor had propped a wan but conscious Audrey up on pillows. Not all the way, but just enough to make feeding her possible.

“Found some chicken noodle,” he said with false cheerfulness.

“Go ahead and feed it to her,” the doc said, moving to make space for Dale.

Dale sat down beside Audrey, holding the bowl aloft.

“Audrey, are you hungry?” Dale asked, feeling silly for asking such a question.

Her eyes brightened and she nodded, but said nothing.

“Good,” he said, smiling, but it was weak.

He lifted the spoon, laden to the brim with soup, to her lips. They parted obediently to admit the spoon, and she ate. Dale stared at her face every time he lifted the spoon for her, unable to stop himself from drinking her in with his eyes. It was though he had been drowning, and now Audrey, safe and recovering, was a full deep breath of air and sunlight after a long submersion. He couldn’t get enough.

She ate the whole bowl of soup. Much like Dale, Audrey was mesmerized. Every moment she had spent at Jack's she had been waiting for Agent Cooper to come for her. Now that she was safe and he was here it felt like a dream. Her heart felt like it had expanded inside her chest to such an extent that it strained her ribs. She didn't want it to end. 

When she was done he helped to situate her so that she could sleep.

“Thank you,” she said with a sleepy, contented smile, and drifted off into the realm of dreams.

In the next room, Doc Hayward and Agent Cooper discussed her condition.

“She’s out of the woods, thank goodness.”

"But?” Agent Cooper asked in his ever-perceptive manner. “What is it?”

Doc sighed and shook his head. “The problem is Cooper, aside from drugs, we don’t know what they did to her up there.” He gave Agent Cooper a significant look.

“You’re worried she was raped,” Agent Cooper said with a stern expression.

The doctor nodded in a forlorn way. “Yes. And time is critical for...” he trailed off, but Agent Cooper picked up right where he left off.

“For collecting a rape kit,” he said, matter-of-factly.

The doctor nodded again. “The drugs were my primary concern, and she’s out of danger now. She’s been through so much already, I was worried what it might do to her if I....”

“Say no more,” Agent Cooper said, raising his hand, palm out. “If she was assaulted, we should collect a kit as soon as she’s gotten some strength back. I consider Audrey a friend, so I’ll talk to her. Hopefully it will be unnecessary.”

He spoke in a staccato and businesslike tone, but it felt as though his insides had been ripped loose and set in a tumble dryer. He had considered this possibility, an ugly thought crouched at the back of his mind, but had been avoiding it while simply basking in the relief of her return and recovery. Now it had been brought to the fore and had to be addressed. “Doc, go home and get some rest. I’ll stay and watch her. Harry will be back in the morning.”

The doctor gave a single nod, casting a glance in Audrey’s direction. Dale imagined the good doctor was contemplating his own teenage daughter, terrified of what could happen to her someday. Doc Hayward said farewell and departed.

As soon as the doctor was gone, Dale felt his posture sag slightly. Turning to Audrey’s bedside, he pulled up a chair and sat to wait, and watch.

She was lovely, even in her exhausted and abused state. Curled up on her side facing him, her hair was strewn across the pillows and her cheek, one hand resting under her chin. Slowly her side stretched and rose, then fell with her slow gentle breathing. In her sleep her high arched eyebrows twitched occasionally, as if in deep concentration.

Dale contemplated with horror what might have been done to her at One Eyed Jack’s. The level of cruelty displayed by her captors did not bode well. Looking at her, feeling his heart softened by her peaceful sleeping form, he felt an anger rising up in him. The idea of Audrey forced, hurt, by a stranger to her, perhaps while she was unconscious or even as she pleaded for him to stop, clawed at this inside of his mind. He felt his throat tightening and his hands were clenched into tight white-knuckled fists. If such a man existed, Cooper wanted him dead.

Breaking his vigil Dale stepped away to calm himself. He returned to the kitchen and brewed a cup of coffee. As he moved about the kitchen he reminded himself that perhaps nothing of the sort had happened. Sipping at a mug printed with the words "#1 Sheriff" he commenced a brief search for reading material. Better to have something to occupy his mind elsewhere, he thought as he settled back in by the bedside.

It was in the wee hours of the morning, before the sun had risen, that Audrey awoke. It was a moment he longed for and dreaded. She had lain in the same position the entire time she had slept, and now she rolled onto her back and stretched. Some color had returned to her face, and the dark circles were subsiding.

“Agent Cooper,” she said, when she saw him. The dream hadn't ended yet. Seeing his serious and worried face made her smile in spite of herself.

“Hello Audrey,” he said, moving to sit on the side of the bed.

She rolled back onto her right side, so that her body curled around him as he sat, as she had done the first time she regained consciousness. He had held her then while she cried. Now he reached out and stroked her cheek with his right hand. She closed her eyes and placed her own hand on top of his. But now she wasn’t crying. The feel of his hand against her skin was heaven.

Dale hated what he had to do.

“Audrey,” he said.

“Yes?” she asked with a sigh of contentment, opening her eyes.

“I have to ask you a very difficult question.”

Her eyes opened wider. “What is it?” What could be the matter?

“While you were at Jack’s, did anyone,” he slowed, faltering, “did anyone hurt you? Did any of the men...” he trailed off, unable to bring himself to say it. A deep furrow had settled on his brow.

Her eyes seemed to become heavy and dark. Dale felt his breath catch. 

“No,” she said, quietly. “No. Except for the fact that I was tied up, and the drugs, and that Mr. X hit me once, I was left alone.”

“But?” Dale asked, sensing there was something she was hesitant to say.

She remained silent for a moment, and he knew there was more.

Audrey was thinking, fast. Her mind wasn’t quite up to speed yet, but she knew that this was the decisive moment. If she was ever going to catch Agent Cooper, it was now. She had realized that it was his logic, his rational mind, that she had to overcome. And now, with him here, his face so soft and concerned, she knew that she could appeal to her ally: his heart. She had to strike while the iron is hot.

“But I was afraid,” she said, biting her lip. Closing her eyes, she brought back all those feelings of fear and helplessness that she had at Jack’s, and flooded herself with them. Remembered all her prayers, how desperately she had hoped for Agent Cooper to rescue her. A trembling crept through her body, and fresh tears came to her eyes. Then she looked steadily into his eyes and let the tears well up and run over.

Normally she controlled herself, kept these emotions wrapped up beneath the surface. It helped her to feel in control, and safe. But if she had any hope of winning Dale over, she knew she had to show them to him.

“I was afraid,” she continued, “that someone would hurt me. Jean Reno especially. Or that he would sell me to someone.” She shuddered then, pressing her face more firmly Agent Cooper's hand, which was still on the side of her face. “I’m a virgin. I thought maybe he could get more money for me if he knew.”

Dale felt like his insides were being wrung out by a strong and merciless pair of hands. His pulse was quickening, but he waited for her to finish.

“But what I was afraid of, most of all,” Audrey said, pushing herself up in bed to get herself on eye level with Agent Cooper, “was that someone would take me for the first time, and it wouldn’t be you.”

“Audrey...” Dale said, shocked, unsure what actually to say. He wasn’t prepared for this, and it swept over him in a tidal wave of conflicting emotions.

“I know,” she said, “I know you think I’m too young. But please listen to me. This experience, it’s changed me. I had a lot of time to think. To think about what I wanted to do differently in my life, and what was important to me.” Her voice was growing stronger, more sure of itself. It had a definitive, impassioned edge to it, a full-toned cutting certainty. “I promised myself, if I survived, that I would tell you,” she passed over a ravine of uncertainty, but had too much momentum to do anything but continue, full speed ahead, “that I love you. And that you’re what’s important to me.”

Dale took a very deep breath, his nostrils flaring. She was sitting so close, he could smell her. He remembered the way her perfume and her skin had smelled the night when she came to his room. It was just as intoxicating now as it was then. And she was sitting so close, staring intently at him with a newly hardened maturity. It was almost more than he could bear.

“Please,” she said. “Please don’t refuse me again. You’ll break my heart.”

She leaned in then, slowly, cautiously, to bring her face close to his. He did not back away, but he did not lean in either.

“Please,” she all but breathed as she closed more distance, her lips parted and mere inches from his. She felt her heart hammering wildly against her ribs.

There was a war going on inside Dale. It was a thunderous raging battle. He felt frozen, even as he felt tossed about, like a dingy in raging swells and wind. But he knew the every moment of indecision was in itself a decision, drawing him closer to the final conclusion. And when he saw her lips part, saw her gaze fall to his own mouth, he could resist no longer.

When the dam gave way inside of Dale, it gave way in a crashing inexorable flood of white water. Without another thought, he closed the distance between their mouths, kissing her with a ferocity that threatened to overwhelm him. His left hand tangled in her hair, pulling her face to him while his right arm found its way around her body. In a single fluid movement he turned and pulled her across his lap, his right hand on her waist now, and his left around her back. She wrapped both her arms around him, pressing her chest against his.

Cooper felt his body shifting, his physiology transforming him into a more basic instinctual creature. The smell and the taste of her made him feel like his skin was burning. He longed to press the length of his body against her, to feel as much of her skin as possible all at once.

Moving his mouth away from hers, he slid his cheek across hers, feeling her smoothness against his light stubble. He began to kiss her neck, and the soft moans that escaped her were like symphonic orchestrations, pure aphrodisiac to his ears. It made him want to hear more noises. He kissed his way to her ear, and took her lobe between his teeth, nibbling gently. These noises were different, more urgent, more hungry.

Her hands began to roam over his arms, his back, exploring the foreign and wondrous topology of his body. Audrey felt like she might explode, or faint, and was terrified that she might for fear that she miss a single moment. He was strong, his muscles hard and his shirt tight over his hot skin. She wanted to feel his skin, wanted to feel all if his skin. Soon she was tugging on his shirt, trying to remove it.

“Audrey,” Dale said, trying to reign himself in, “not tonight.”

“What?” Audrey said, sadness and just a hint of outrage in her voice. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked, teetering on the edge of disappointment. 

Dale let out a soft chuckle, getting in control of himself. “No,” he said, bringing his face down to her hair and breathing her in deeply, “you didn’t do anything wrong.” He moved his face back to her neck and kissed her there for a little while, feeling the tension retreat from her body as he kissed her. Delightful. He pulled his face back to look at her steadily. “I just don’t think now is the right time.”

“Why not?” she asked, a fear beginning to grow inside of her, fear that she had lost him.

“Well, you’ve been through a great deal of trauma,” he said, brushing stray hairs away from her face, then pressing his palm against her cheek. “I want to make sure you are fully recovered before we go any further. And,” he continued, with a serious tone in his voice, “I want to make sure that this is what you really want.”

Her face fell. “You’re just saying that. You’ll change your mind, and it will never happen.” She was looking down and away sullenly. There was the girl he knew.

Catching her chin in his fingers he pulled her face to his again and gave her a long, slow, gentle kiss. He could feel her body melt, heard her breathing quicken and felt the energy pulsing under her skin, but he kept himself in control. He broke away to speak. “Audrey, I give you my word that I will not change my mind. I promise you, that when you are fully recovered, I will give you what you want. Everything you want,” he said, brushing his lips against hers teasingly, but not kissing her. He heard the little gasp she made and it brought a smile to his lips.

“I want to believe you mean that,” she said, “but I’m ready now. Please,” she said, “it’s all I want in the world.”

He chuckled again. “Audrey,” he said, “you are very tenacious. I’ll tell you what,” he continued, rubbing his chin. “How about I give you something, as a goodwill offering. Something to assure you I mean business.”

“Give me what?” she asked, with a sultry and hungry note in her voice.

“Something very special,” he said, giving her a sideways look, “and in return you promise to wait patiently for the rest.”

“What if I am not reassured?” she asked, lifting her arched brows sharply.

“Audrey,” Dale said, leaning in close, “if you are not reassured, then my name isn’t Dale Cooper.” And he punctuated his statement with another long kiss.

“You’re doing that on purpose, to scramble my brain,” she said, eyes closed, on a high from his kiss.

“Any complaints?” he asked.

“No,” she said with a wry twist of her lips, not opening her eyes.

“Do we have a deal?” he asked.

Opening her eyes and fixing him with an inquisitive and suspicious glare she said, “Deal.”

“Alright then,” he said, lifting her off his lap, and standing. “Give me five minutes.”

“Where are you going?” she asked with a slightly alarmed tone.

He bent down, and catching her face between his hands, he kissed her. Then he said, “I’m going to shave. Five minutes. I promise.”

In the Bookhouse’s small restroom, Dale ordered his shaving kit on the counter next to the basin. He was always very particular on the matter of his personal grooming. He had packed his razor and shaving cream automatically when he knew he would be staying a night away from his room.

First, he removed his black turtleneck, so that he was wearing only his sleeveless undershirt. Carefully spreading a generous lather on his face, he worked in even strokes with quick efficient movements. Though he was staring at his own reflection, he saw nothing, so occupied was he with thoughts of Audrey. He felt like he had entered very morally questionable waters. True, she was legally an adult, and very certain of herself. And this ordeal seemed to have given her a new, if somewhat jaded, maturity. 

But she was still so young, it worried him. Was this ethical? To become sexually involved, at his age, with such an ingenue? Did he really have it in him to deflower her? He knew instantly that he did, and it troubled him. Perhaps he wouldn’t have to, she’d come to her senses. However, he felt bound by his word, which he had given her, unwisely so, and there was nothing else to do. He wanted her, in a way he had not wanted a woman in a very long time, but after keeping his own desires harnessed tightly for so long, he felt uncertain. And Dale was anything but used to feeling uncertain of himself.

Splashing the remains of shaving cream from his face with water from the sink and patting himself dry, he decided to cross that bridge when he came to it. Feeling his face and chin with his fingertips he inspected his handiwork. Perfectly smooth. He could probably get two more good uses out of the blade before retiring it.

Looking himself squarely in the eye, he made a decision. Tonight he would set aside his worries. He would give Audrey her goodwill offering, his mouth quirked into a small smile at this, and he would allow himself to enjoy it. And enjoy it he would, thoroughly.

Audrey visibly relaxed when he returned.

“I thought maybe you snuck off,” she said, smiling at him.

“Never,” he said, coming to sit on the bed and face her squarely. “Audrey, this is very important. I need you to listen.”

She said nothing, but nodded, curious.

“I am going to give you the gift I promised, but if at any time you change your mind, or don’t like what’s happening, I want you to say so, okay? This is for you, not for me.”

She nodded again, face serious. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Why did you shave?”

A smile broke across his face, that secret smile of his that she had been longing to see. He took one of her hands and raised it to his face so that she could feel the softness of his skin. “So that I don’t scratch you,” he said.

He moved closer to kiss her, running his fingers through her hair, caressing her neck. He could feel the heat building within her as he touched her skin. He brought his full attention to her responses, while keeping his own desire under careful control. Listening for any sound, any shift in breathing, he began to kiss her neck again. Then, when he felt it was time, he removed her shirt. She was not wearing a bra, and her full firm breasts were glorious. Cooper felt a savage hunger in him looking at her. She bit her lower lip in that seductive way of hers, looking away and then back at him, gauging his reaction.

“Beautiful,” he said, and he cupped her left breast in his right hand as he applied his mouth and tongue to the nipple of the other. Her noises were louder now, explosive almost and fiery, as she raked her fingers through his hair, creating total disarray. Dale felt as though a fire were burning in his chest, but he kept the damper on, keeping it to a slow steady heat so that he would not rush anything. But he could feel his pulse rising with every passing moment.

“Lie back,” he said, and unlaced her sleeping shorts, tied at the waist. She complied instantly, and when he looked her in the eyes as he removed her shorts and underwear together, she flushed a deep desirable crimson. He kept his eyes on her face, noting how very red her mouth had become, unaided by her usual make up, and how very widely dilated her irises were. The flush in her cheeks remained. He reveled in all her signs of arousal, savored them like delicacies. Then he closed his eyes and breathed her scent deeply.

He pulled her to the edge of the bed so that her feet swung freely from her knees. Kneeling, he brought his face down and kissed her navel, around her navel, and then began to work his way further south, with painstaking slowness. As he came near his goal, he looked up at her. “Is this okay?” he asked, quite serious, wanting nothing more than to continue, but needing her assent.

Audrey had never wanted anything more in her life. Every moment he was not kissing her was exquisite torture, and here he was wasting his mouth on words. She moaned with frustration and tried to push his face into her. He felt light-headed with arousal, and chuckled in a happy and satisfied fashion. He decide to tease her, kissing his way down the inside of one thigh, and then up the other. She felt like she couldn’t breath, every kiss increasing her urgency. Unable to resist, she grabbed two fistfuls of his hair and tried again to push him. This time he let her.

She let out a gasp, and Dale felt himself going drunk on the taste and the smell of her. It was like the floor came out from under him. He had no words to describe it, only that it was as unique and beautiful and she was, and it drove him to the edge of madness with desire for her. He could hear the smile in her moans as he ran his tongue over her, felt her shudder with delight.

Then, he brought his right hand down and slowly, carefully, pushed his index finger inside of her. She was ready for it, so very ready, and the tenor of her moans deepened with a new hunger. Moving her hips, she pressed herself against his hand, bringing him deeper inside. 

“More,” she said.

It was the best word Dale had ever heard. He lived for this moment. There were many, many beautiful and wonderful things in this world, things that so often delighted and amazed him. But nothing, absolutely nothing, was like pleasing a beautiful woman for whom he had genuine affection. Cunnilingus, he believed, was a noble and beautiful art, perfected only by careful attention to details, keen observation, and spirit of true generosity. He adored the act, found it almost addictive in its appeal. And doing it for Audrey was steadily pushing him towards insanity with lust.

Slowly and carefully, he built the tension within her. It was like delicately finding the right resonance and fine tuning his movements to create the maximum effect. Audrey was his instrument, his Stradivarius, and he played her with great affection and desire. He took care not to push her over the edge too quickly, drawing out the moment and holding her at the summit.

“Please,” she said, her neck arched back so he could not see her face, “Do it, please.”

The raw unadulterated desire in her voice, the animal craving that showed through it, made him dizzy. He obeyed. Spasms passed through her body, and he heard the cries that she made, achingly sweet and so loud, his name among them. He kept going until the tension started to ebb from her body, and smiled. Pulling her back all the way onto the bed, he lay down next to her and stroked her face, watching her relax.

She opened her eyes, bright and shiny, a deep flush in her face still. Opening her mouth to speak, she could not seem to form words. Giving up she let out a deep satisfied sigh, and then, “Mmmm.” Snuggling against him, she continued to make small soft noises, the occasional tremor passing through her. In moments, she was asleep.

For many minutes Dale lay with her, watching her. He hoped that he had not taken too much out of her. But, he reminded himself, orgasm could be very healing. He sighed, looking into her face and feeling things stirring within him that he thought had been long dead. He felt totally at her mercy, this young devilish thing, at yet at the same time she was so sweetly innocent.

Looking out the window he saw dawn beginning to light the sky. Harry would be back soon. Carefully he redressed her. She stirred lightly, but did not wake. Dale smiled to himself, tucking her in, then went to clean himself up and brew some more coffee. Then he’d have a mug or two. Black, of course.


End file.
